Jean-Charles Snoy et d’Oppuers

Nationality

Belgium

Date of Birth

1907

Date of Death

1991

Political
Preference

Christian Democrat

Jean-Charles Snoy et d’Oppuers was a Belgian politician and civil servant. He studied law, philosophy and politics at the Catholic University of Leuven and went on to study economics at Harvard University. In 1936, he was appointed Director of Economic Treaties and Negotiations at the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and became Secretary-General of the Department of Economic Affairs in 1939. He was part of the Belgian government-in-exile in France during World War II, but was sent back to Belgium in July of 1940 – before the exiled government of Belgium would take up its position in London. Snoy was subsequently removed from office by the Germans.

After the Second World War, Snoy played a key role in post-war economic developments, both nationally and internationally. He was involved in the administration of the Marshall Plan and replaced Paul-Henri Spaak as the Chairman of the Council of the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC). He also led the Belgian delegation to several conferences on the creation of the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).

During his time as Chairman of the OEEC, Snoy and the OEEC’s Secretary General Robert Marjolin produced the so-called Snoy-Marjolin Report in August 1949. After a lengthy deliberation within the Council of the OEEC, the members could not agree on the division of Marshall Plan-aid for 1949-1950. As a result, they tasked Snoy and Marjolin to act as ‘arbitrators’ and make the allocation of aid. It was an unprecedented transfer of sovereignty by the members of the OEEC, and greatly boosted the status of both Marjolin and Snoy as impartial international civil servants.

The Snoy-Marjolin Report solved a crisis within the OEEC concerning Britain’s request for more aid (which would have reduced the allocation of aid to other countries.

After his work for the OEEC and later the European Communities, Snoy continued his work in the service of Europe. In January 1970, Snoy presented the Belgian proposal for a monetary union in Europe. The so-called ‘Snoy Plan’ argued for a European monetary community based on the unification and homogeneity of economic policies of member states. It also advocated for the establishment of a monetary system and a supranational European economic government able to push forward a single economic policy. The plan also proposed that Europe should become an autonomous entity in relation to the rest of the world.

In 1983, Baron Snoy was awarded the Robert Schuman Award for his efforts in European integration.